What do voters want? A check on Donald Trump. That came through loud and clear in last week's NBC/Wall Street Journal poll. Now Republicans are reinforcing that they are exactly as useless as voters thought—standing silently by as Trump shreds the trans-Atlantic alliances that have helped to keep the U.S. safe for over half a century.
But after Trump called the summit's host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, "weak" in a fit of pique, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro asserted that "there's a special place in hell" for Trudeau, and Trump's national security adviser John Bolton tweeted "other countries expect America will always be their bank,” congressional Republicans have remained almost universally silent on the threat this represents to U.S. national security and world order.
Outside of Arizona Sen. John McCain rebuking Trump on Twitter, serious criticism of Trump’s post-summit tirade was left almost exclusively to Democrats.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sounded genuinely appalled; not phony-political appalled, but for real. Pelosi tweeted, “This week started with @realDonaldTrump boosting a Chinese company identified as a national security threat to the U.S. It ended with him standing up for Russia and alienating our allies at the G7.” And for good measure, she added, with obvious disdain, Trump’s “MAGA” hashtag. Schumer echoed that sense of amazement. He tweeted: “Are we executing Putin’s diplomatic and national security strategy or AMERICA’s diplomatic and national security strategy? After the last few days, it’s hard to tell.”
Noting that Trump was doing Putin's bidding was a good and obvious place to start. Now Democrats need to move to directly criticizing the congressional Republicans who are treating the collapse of our western alliances as a spectator sport. They control Congress; it’s their responsibility to put a check on a pr*sident who’s endangering our national security; and they’re the ones who will be on the ballot this November.
Republicans, for instance, could pass legislation that would mitigate Trump's ability to escalate a trade war with our closest allies. They won't. They could speak out publicly about their concern for our national security as Trump blows up the world order. They haven't.
This leaves Democrats with a perfect opportunity to remind voters that all the things they already believe are true:
- Trump is not level-headed—64 to 32 percent (Quinnipiac)
- Trump needs a check on his power—48 to 23 percent (WSJ/NBC)
- Trump doesn't share their values—61 to 35 percent (Quinnipiac)
- Trump is not honest—59 to 35 percent (Quinnipiac)
Most importantly is emphasizing the message Republican lawmakers are sending with their silence: Trump can do whatever he wants—as long as we're in power, he has free rein.
As far as North Korea goes, no matter what actually happens there, Trump will likely declare victory. So at every opportunity, Democrats should use North Korea to talk about Trump's foreign policy more broadly—which is turning into an unmitigated disaster for us from both a trade and a national security perspective.
Democrats can say things like: “No matter what Trump says, the proof is in the pudding and there's no pudding yet” and “Instead of strengthening the alliances that have kept us safe for more than half a century, Trump is buddying up to despots like Kim who murder their political opponents and starve their people in pursuit of power.”
Trump, by virtue of his world class meltdown following the G-7 summit, has handed Democrats a gift with which to remind voters of all their worst fears about his pr*sidency and the free pass congressional Republicans are giving him. But the G-7 meeting took place over the weekend, so Democrats must work the disastrous narrative into every question they are asked about North Korea.
And hey, how about a proactive “We stand with our allies” press conference on the steps of the Capitol? If Democrats want to provide the electorate with a sound alternative to Trump, they must let voters know what they stand for and that they will hold Trump in check.